# UCLCHEM: A Gas-Grain Chemical Code

## TL;DR

UCLCHEM is an open-source, time-dependent gas-grain chemical code that models molecular abundances under various physical conditions, aiding in understanding protostellar collapse and shock phenomena.

## Contribution

The paper introduces UCLCHEM, a new publicly available chemical modeling tool capable of simulating complex gas-grain interactions in diverse astrophysical environments.

## Key findings

- Reproduces CO, CS, NH₃ behavior in collapsing cores
- Identifies molecular tracers for C-shocks
- Classifies molecules based on shock response

## Abstract

We present a publicly available, open source version of the time dependent gas-grain chemical code UCLCHEM. UCLCHEM propagates the abundances of chemical species through a large network of chemical reactions in a variety of physical conditions. The model is described in detail along with its applications. As an example of possible uses, UCLCHEM is used to explore the effect of protostellar collapse on commonly observed molecules and to study the behaviour of molecules in C-type shocks. We find the collapse of a simple Bonnor-Ebert sphere successfully reproduces most of the behaviour of CO,CS and NH$_3$ from cores observed by \citet{Tafalla2004} but cannot predict the behaviour of N$_2$H$^+$. In the C-shock application, we find that molecules can be categorized so that they can be useful observational tracers of shocks and their physical properties. Whilst many molecules are enhanced in shocked gas, we identify two groups of molecules in particular. A small number of molecules are enhanced by the sputtering of the ices as the shock propagates and then remain high in abundance throughout the shock. A second, larger set are also enhanced by sputtering but then are destroyed as the gas temperature rises. Through these applications the general applicability of UCLCHEM is demonstrated.